


silentium est aurum

by germanpsychiatrist



Series: Mission Impossible [2]
Category: Men in Black (Movies), Men in Black International
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Marvel References, Rescue Missions, Whump, holding the other in arms, mild descriptions of torture, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 20:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19731616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/germanpsychiatrist/pseuds/germanpsychiatrist
Summary: It was a nice evening that Cecil was enjoying with a cup of tea in hand when his phone rang and everything went to shit.„Agent H was kidnapped.”





	silentium est aurum

It was a nice evening that Cecil was enjoying with a cup of tea in hand when his phone rang and everything went to shit.

"Agent H was kidnapped.”

It took him a while to really understand these words.Then there were emotions: shock, fear, rage. And finally swift, practical words:

”Summon the council. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes”.

***  
C wasn’t sure if he was happy to be the deputy in the absence of Henry. It gave him a lot of responsibility, but also power. And he wanted to find H as soon as possible, obviously.

Right now he was nervously pacing back and forth, trying to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said:

„Play the video from the kidnappers again.”

The screen on the wall flashed and a man in balaclava with an unconscious Henry appeared. He started talking, his voice distorted by some editing the kidnappers did. 

„We will give you seven days to gather two million and free our man, Jack Houston. Bring him and the money to Trafalgar square next sunday at noon. If you’ll try to attack us, we will know. Anything suspicious and he dies. We don’t care if he lives or not. ”

It was all. Very little.

„We are supposed to meet at a very public place. They know we don’t wanna hurt civilians, and neuralizing the whole place would be difficult”-someone remarked.

„Obviously. Remind me, who the hell is that Jack Houston?” asked C.

„A criminal, member and ex-member of many organized crime groups. Human, but he’s also been a space pirate for some time. Mainly a thief, but he happened to kill one of our agents. We caught him at the crime scene. It will be very hard to determine which of the groups is trying to free him.”

„Well, get into it anyway. Last activites, locations, their relationship with that Houston, we need to know everything.” ordered Cecil.

„Of course.”

Suddenly, the door opened and an agent, clearly in a hurry, went in. Trying to catch his breath, after a while he spoke:

"We have footage from H’s house."

"How come they didn’t notice the cameras?"

" They were in a hurry to leave the house, I suppose. But let’s watch it".

The agent put a DVD into DVD player. Video in grey appeared on the screen. It was a footage from a camera in the living room. H was on the couch, watching TV. Suddenly, he raised his head up. He muvt’ve heard something. Seconds later a bunch of men in balaclavas and dark suits appeared. Now it was clear that they simply did not care if there were any cameras, they were unrecognisable. They attacked H. Cecil had to admit he fought admirably. He didn’t even have a gun, however, so the fight ended quickly and the kidnappers left the room with unconscious Henry. Suddenly, C said:

"Stop."

Someone did it. 

"Zoom in on that guy’s arm".

Just seconds from everyone leaving the room, the camera captured a moment when a tatoo on one of the kidnapper’s arm was visible.

„His sleeve must’ve gone up during the fight. He didn’t notice it”

Cecil nodded in agreement. The tattoo was quite unique. It was a picture of an alien with blue skin holding a red umbrella over his head. What was the meaning of this?

„I know who this is. On the picture.”

Everybody’s eyes turned to the youngest agent in the council. He blushed and said:

„That is Yondu Udonta, from Marvel's Guardian's of the Galaxy Volume 2. In the film, he floated up in the air and somebody compared him to Mary Poppins..."I'm Mary Poppins ya'll" is a famous quote from him."

„Well, it’s always something.” Cecil remarked.

„Maybe they are the space pirates? Yondu lead such a group in the movie.”

„It may be too easy, but it’s worth a shot. Fortunately, the space pirates base was compromised recently. They don’t know that yet, we have been preparing to raid them. We can try to find H there” - an older agent said.

„Okay, let’s sum it up. I will raid the Space Pirates' base with a strike team. The rest of you, discuss the information of the prisoner's organisation with each other and get even more information you can about them.I think you can manage, Agent L, take my place, I’ll go prepare for the mission” Cecil said. Everybody nodded. 

He left the room, walking as fast as possible. He couldn’t think, couldn’t allow himself to be emotionally compromised. He wanted to act and not to ponder the grim situation. The possibility of Henry being tortured right now…

Nothing happened after the night with their first (and only) kiss. They didn’t discuss it. There was a slight difference, however, in the way H was acting in C’s presence. More confident, breaching the personal boundaries more. Or maybe Cecil was imagining things. The thing that happened for sure was the increase of their contact. They talked more, mostly during the lunch break. H started to frequent the bistro C loved. They couldn’t exactly behave as if the other wasn’t there, could they? They talked about stupid, casual things, like shows H watched and books C read, or some rumours from work. C had, obviously, been growing fonder and fonder of H, noticing his little quirks, discovering new things that made him laugh. He was out of his depth, but couldn’t stop.

And now this… He needed to rescue him.  
***  
H woke up with a start. Bright torchlight blinded him. Somebody was shaking him, and saying:

„Wake up, sleepy head, we have some heavy talking to do.”

H barely managed to reach out and put the torch so that the light was no longer in his face. He looked at the guy before him. He was an unremarkable, dark-haired, middle-aged man. Henry looked around. He was in a small room with metal walls. And he was apparently chained to one of them.

Everything came back to him. He was kidnapped.

„Shit.” - he cursed under his breath.

The man with the torch unchained and helped him stand up. H’s head was spinning. His captor cuffed and led him out of the room. They started walking through a narrow corridor with no natural light. There were other doors in the walls. 

It took a while before they reached a white door at the end of the hall. The man went in with Henry, then let him go and disappeared.

H was standing eye to eye with a man who looked like an MiB agent, wearing a dark suit. The only difference was a cowboy hat, which didn’t really look good with the rest of his attire. He looked simultanousely bored and impatient. He spoke first.

„Please, do sit down, Agent H. Or maybe you prefer ‘Henry’?”

H came closer to the other man and sat down, then asked:

„How the hell you know my name?”

„Not really your bussiness, my friend. Let me brief you on your situation. We’re holding you hostage in exchange for money and the freedom of one of our men who was taken by the MiB. If they don’t do anything shady and fullfill the terms, you will be back home by the end of this week. However, we did not specify that we won’t… try to get some information from you. So, enjoy your stay, and one of my colleagues is waiting in the adjacent room for you.”

Before H responded or protested, a guard standing by the door led him to the adjacent room. It was sterile, but terryfying. There was a metal frame, and a table full of varous dangerous-looking tools. H was no coward, but shuddered. There was another person in the room, a glasses-wearing woman in a white outfit with a lab coat.

„Good day, sir. Please come over here to me.” - she said, gesturing at the chair.

„And what if I refuse?” H asked.

„Well, we have quite a lot of staff who can help you” the woman replied.

„Don’t bother.” the agent surrendered and came closer. 

„Take off your clothes” the woman said.

„What?”

„Do what I say. It’s what makes the torture effective.”

H slowly obeyed. He joked:

„These aren’t really my preferred circumstances to be naked with a woman.”

She didn’t even smile. This wasn’t a good sign. She strapped him to the metal frame.

„Parrilla, you say?” H remarked.

„We won’t have to use it if you answer my questions.”

„Like hell I will.”

„We’ll see, we’ll see. Shall we begin?”

H didn’t answer this obviously rhetorical question. The woman took out a piece of paper and read aloud:

„Where are the headquarters of the Men in Black London branch?”

„What do you need this info for? When you realase me I’m gonna tell them everything I’ve said to you and we simply will move.”

„Of course, but we can use this information now. Your fellow agents without a doubt are trying to free you without frreing our man right now. We can go to your base now, retrieve him and weaken your organization in some other way, if you tell us where it is.”

H cursed, but besides that remained silent.

The woman sighed, said:„Okay, so this is the first level of pain.”, and pushed the lever.

H’s shriek was muted out by the soundproof walls.

***

Henry had no idea how long the torture lasted before they dragged him back to his cell. Dragged him, because he had no strength to walk by himself. He crawled to bunk bed and lied down, hissing from pain. It was excruciating. They reached the fifth level of pain before the torturer decided he needed a break. H heard that in some cases the parrilla caused the fracture of the bones. That didn’t happen (yet), but the pain was indescribable. He didn’t say anything, but had no idea if he would manage to do that next time.

The knowledge that he will not die, that he needs to hold on for a week, helped. If the MiB decide to exchange the prisoner for him, of course, that wasn’t certain. Or if the organization won’t do anything that may cause the kidnappers to break the rules of exchange. He had a hope though.

Just a week of torture… 

H thought about the reasons to stay silent. MiB were a good organization and compromising them was a bad thing to do, of course. But did he really got any personal reasons not to betray them?

Endanger his subordinates – he wouldn’t want to do that. But did he really know them? He preferred to work alone, even now when he was the head of the London branch. They didn’t really have anything in common besides the work.

Except C.

Cecil.he thought, surprised how soft this name sounded in his thoughts. He’s gotten really sentimental.

They had a long history of rivalry, but now that High T was dead they got along better. They still bickered, but it was more friendly. H really valued C’s advice and work. And he’s been spending the most of his free time with Cecil. It just happened naturally. Not that he asked him to go out...

Not yet.

Yeah, go out in that sense. He remembered the night wih C in one bed and the kiss very well. It was out of an impulse, but, well, C was attractive. And H’s begun to like him.

In fact, when Henry tried to think of a people closest to him, to whom he would like to come back from the mess he was in,survive, were Molly and Cecil. He’s been quite lonely since Riza, and recently he hasn’t even had any one-night stands. 

It was really surprising that one of the people H thought about while trying to endure torture, was C, but facts were facts.

And he needed every motivation to go on.

***

C sat at a table surrounded by other agents, looking at a map. An older agent started talking:

„This is the map of Kepler 442b, the planet where the pirate’s base is. Their headquarters are more or less in its center. We will have to land away from the base, so that they won’t notice us, and go to the place very careful not to attract attention. According to our intel there are only greenhouses outside of the headquarters, no settlements. When shall we set out, C?

„Immediately, if you’re ready.”

„We need a few hours.”

”Okay, go prepare everything.” C ordered. „I’m taking everybody in this room on this mission. Dismissed.”

In a few minutes he was left alone. He took out his laptop, started it and started reading about the planet. It had liquid water. It has, forunately, passed the time when stellar winds would be too strong for the planet to be habitable. The surface was rocky and the day much longer than on Earth. It had little to no atmosphere, so they would have to wear spacesuits.

It wasn’t the most hospitable place to be, and that’s why the pirates probably chose it. 

C clenched his fists. It didn’t matter. They had to rescue H anyway.

***

„Tonight we’ll be trying something different.” the woman said to H instead of a greeting.

„And what that may be?”

„We’re gonna keep you in a room with bright light. If you wanna go out, you have to signal to us that you wil talk”.

H didn’t know which method was worse. He didn’t have much time to think about it. The woman led him to another room. The light was blinding here. She left him there.

Henry sat down, back propped up a wall, and covered his eyes. This was going to be terrible.

***

It’s been a long, long time in the room. H obviously didn’t know how much, exactly. He felt sleepy, anyway. And with such bright light it didn’t seem possible. His head, eyes, eyelids hurt like hell. And with the parrilla there was at least somebody to talk to. Here, he was alone and aching.

Just a few Men in Black secrets revealed and this could be over…

H shook his head and tried to think of something else.

Molly. Their bickering, working together, her smiles.

Cecil. Their rivalry, long years knowing each other. His handsome face. Kissing him.

Pain was getting worse.

C. His eyes, his mouth, the goddamn smart brain behind all this.

Plese come save me.

***

They were finally on the planet’s surface, surrounded by rocks. C looked at his sensor. It has scanned the nearby area and detected no life signs. 

„Okay, let’s go.” - he said to the earpiece in his suit.

They moved slowly forward. They had to mind the rocks. C also looked around for anybody who would like to attack them. It was calm so far, so calm it was suspicious.

Suddenly, his sensor started flashing. C clicled at another button and a hologram appeared, showing a map. They were near a settlement.

„We’re approaching a greenhouse surrounded by a few other buildings. There are people there. Maybe they won’t notice us if we stay in this trench. Move stealthily.” C said to his subordinates.

They moved on. Cecil was very alert. Suddenly a man near C fell down. C moved away and looked around, his nerves on the edge. There were people shooting from above at his team. He reached for his gun, but he lost his balance and tripped. He quickly found out the reason – there was a man lying on him. His or theirs, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that now he had a shield, however macabre it would sound. He raised his gun and started firing. He really hoped he was shooting at the enemy, there was so much dust in the air that he couldn’t see. 

It took a while, but then it was already over. There were dozens of dead men lying on the ground. C found himself alive and mostly unharmed. Part of his team died, but most of them looked okay. Someone rushed to him, screaming through the earpiece:

„Boss, are you okay?”

C got out from under the body and answered:

„Yes. Let’s get going. The pirate base is very near, we need to get there before this settlement alerts them.”

Before setting out he looked around one more time. So many dead people. Mostly enemies, but still… He hadn’t killed in a long time.

For H, however… He was ready to do it more.

***

The torturer (so many days and he still didn't know her name) strapped H to the parrilla again. He was exhausted. They only let him sleep for what he felt was three hours after torturing him with the light for what seemed to be a day or night. He still hadn't told a word, but he really wished the day they were to hand him over to the Men In Black. He was very close to giving up.  
  
"We've gone through most of my list of questions. Now it's time for "Who is agent C, what's his name, address and family?"  
  
Shit, shit, shit  
  
"We are secret agents. We don't even know our first names"  
  
"We know from our intel that you and him are close. So, anything? Or maybe you want to talk about Agent M, first?"  
  
H kept silent. The woman sighed and reached for the lever.  
  
God, somebody, please...  
  
Suddenly the woman froze, and reached to her mikrofon. She appeared to be shocked.  
  
"What? They are in? Well, then stop them!"  
  
H didn't even have time to think what that meant. Agent C and someone else barged through the door and pointed their gun at the woman. At the same moment she pointed a knife at Henry. It was an impass.  
  
Henry looked at the woman. Her hand was shaking. She was obviously used to violence, but only using it herself, not being endangered. And the knife wasn't very sharp. He made eye-contact with Cecil, and nodded. He hoped the other would understand.  
  
And he did. Everything went very fast, C shot at the woman's hand, which slipped and, instef of harming the throat, she hurt his chest. The unknown agent ran to the woman and subdued her. Cecil got up to Henry. The latter smiled. He was in good hands.  
  
***

Cecil wasn't sure if he should start to unstrap H first, or stop the bleeding. He decided to do the latter. He unzipped his suit and took off his the upper part of the other, black suit. He wrapped it around H's wound. C turned to the other agent and ordered:  
  
"Go find the doctor!"  
  
The other obeyed and left the room. Cecil started unstrapping Henry. When he finished, the other tripped and almost fell. C caught him and got down on his knees, holding H.  
  
Henry brought up his hand to C's face and touched it, smudging blood on it.  
  
"You came. You saved me. Thank you."  
  
Cecil wasn't sure how to respond. He became acutely aware that the other man was naked. C gave into temptation and, not caring if anyone were to show up, he caught H's hand and said:  
  
"Yes, you're safe now. Hold on, help is on its way."  
  
Henry smiled and held C's hand tighter. The latter, happy, relieved and a bit aroused, kind of wished this moment could last forever.

**Author's Note:**

> A realization that came upon me: (agents) H/C = Hurt/comfort. This fic was just bound to happen, folks.  
> Action/adventure is not my forte, but I hope it's at least not bad. I also don't know anything about astronomy except from what I read on Wikipedia.  
> Comments and kudos appreciated.  
> Also, if anyone drew the last scene I would DIE of happiness.  
> There will be a part 3, but it"s possible I won't have the access to a computer for the next month, so be patient, I will be writing it on paper anyway.


End file.
